Pens' McNeill making leap to AHL regular

WILKES-BARRE TWP. - Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins defenseman Reid McNeill doesn't realize he's in uncharted waters. He's just a 21-year-old guy trying to make a good impression in his first season in pro hockey.

But no one in the 14-year history of the Penguins franchise has taken the same path McNeill has taken to the Calder Cup playoffs.

A 6-foot-4, 208-pound sixth-round draft pick, McNeill spent the vast majority of this season with the ECHL's Wheeling Nailers, posting six points and 90 penalty minutes in 44 games. He played just three AHL games in the regular season, one in February as an injury replacement and two in April after the Penguins had clinched a playoff spot and Wheeling's season was over.

No player in team history spent so much time in the ECHL and so little time in the AHL before becoming a regular in the playoff lineup.

"Coming in, I was just expecting to be with the team," McNeill said. "Whether that was just practicing or playing, that was the coaches' decision. I was going to do everything I could do personally to put myself in the best position to get into the lineup."

There have been highly touted prospects who joined the playoff lineup fresh out of college or junior hockey, like Luca Caputi and Dustin Jeffrey in 2008. There have been players who spent most of the season in the NHL and then were sent down after Pittsburgh didn't make the playoffs, like Brooks Orpik and Konstantin Koltsov in 2004.

There have been players who joined the team in late-season trades, like Derek Nesbitt this year.

But the closest thing to McNeill's path was the one defenseman Shaun Peet took in 2001. He spent most of the season with the Central Hockey League's Macon Whoopee, played eight regular-season games with the Penguins after a late-season call-up and appeared in seven games in the playoffs.

Peet retired in 2005 and began a career in NASCAR. He's now the jackman for Clint Bowyer's No. 15 team in Sprint Cup. With a big wingspan, a willingness to play a physical style and the ability to make a quick, accurate first pass, McNeill's future is almost certainly in hockey, not auto racing.

"He's played very well," coach John Hynes said. "He defends hard. He's a tough player to play against. He executes the style of play and the system well. For a young guy, he's got some defensive moxie to him."

McNeill's emergence as a playoff regular is a surprise because of the path he took this season, but a look at his track record explains it a bit better.

McNeill played 31 playoff games over the last three seasons in the Ontario Hockey League under some coaches who know a thing or two about postseason hockey.

In 2010 and 2011, he played for the London Knights under Dale Hunter, who is the NHL's all-time leader in postseason playoff minutes with 729 in 186 career games.

Last year, he played for the Barrie Colts under Dale Hawerchuk, a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame who had 99 points in 97 career NHL playoff games.

"The first period of the first game I psyched myself out a little bit and made some mental mistakes," McNeill said. "But Billy Guerin and the coaches and my teammates, they showed confidence in me and that kind of calmed me down. They just told me to play my game. From then on, I just went out playing a simple game and trying to keep pucks out of our end and be physical. I think I've done pretty well with that. I'm just going to keep on keeping it simple and see where it ends up."

We welcome user discussion on our site, under the following guidelines:

To comment you must first create a profile and sign-in with a verified DISQUS account or social network ID. Sign up here.

Comments in violation of the rules will be denied, and repeat violators will be banned. Please help police the community by flagging offensive comments for our moderators to review. By posting a comment, you agree to our full terms and conditions. Click here to read terms and conditions.